What is ASCII, and How the ASCII Group Can Help Your Computer Reseller Business Grow

The ASCII Group is a vibrant community of independent MSPs, VARS and solution providers in North America.

The organization offers members leveraged purchasing programs, education and training, knowledge sharing among peers, discounts on business services, and more.

​Founded in 1984 by Alan Weinberger, ASCII is the oldest and largest group of independent IT solution providers, integrators and VARS in the world.​

Benefits of ASCII membership:

SavingsOur Savings Programs provide an excellent return on your membership investment - more than offsetting the cost of membership.

- Distributor and Manufacturer discounts.

By grouping together everyone's volume, ASCII has created volume purchase agreements with the top distributors. Each distributor has special pricing levels for ASCII members. ASCII has savings with top-tier manufacturers.

While discounts are going to vary, typical distributor savings average out about 2%, while manufacturers can go as high as 15%.

With our insurance program we have a master policy with Lloyd's of London that provides you with the errors and omission insurance more end-users are requiring.

"ASCII membership has given us a depth of resources beyond what a company of our size could develop on our own. ASCII provides us a great competitive advantage." M.J. Shoer, Jenaly Technologies​​

Marketing HelpThe #1 request from ASCII members is help with Marketing.

- 3 key programs are included in ASCII membership that will greatly enhance your ability to have an effective marketing campaign.

Our social media program is easy to use, and fills a big need by keeping our members constantly in front of their customers. You fill out one form on ASCII's website, and your work is done. ASCII, on your behalf, will automatically send blurbs several times a week on your company's social media pages.

An e-newsletter is another great way to stay in front of your customers. ASCII provides you each month with a free customizable newsletter that you can send up to 2,000 email addresses a month. ASCII designs the newsletter, creates the graphics, and selects the articles, although we allow you to switch out articles as you see fit.

PR is another area that most IT providers see as something that takes a great deal of time and money to accomplish. ASCII works with several industry publications to have our members write articles and get prominently featured.​​

NetworkingGrow your Professional Network. Membership with ASCII allows you to partner with and share knowledge with hundreds of other ASCII members across the country.

- An essential part of any community is people helping people. And ASCII does that.

Let's say your client opens new offices in Detroit and Seattle and they want you to do the IT work. How much time would it take for you to fly out and do the work yourself, or find someone to do the work for you? ASCII takes away the headache. You let us know where you need someone, how many hours it takes, any skills required, and ASCII will contact our members in that area and have them directly contact you. We remove ourselves after that so you decide who you want to work with, what the fee arrangement will be, etc.

- The same goes for authorizations.

Let's say you need a product for your client but you're not authorized. Call ASCII, and we have a list of over 80 manufacturers requiring authorization where there are ASCII members available to help.

ASCII gives you access to our member network to solve many issues commonly faced by solution providers.​​

KnowledgeProfessional Development and Industry Information.

Many of our members would tell you that our ASCII-Link list serv is the #1 benefit of membership.

While the technology behind it is simple, the knowledge is incredible.

ASCII-Link is a list serv exclusively for ASCII members that over 800 ASCII members participate in. If you have a question about a vendor you're thinking about using, a technical issue, a business question - post a question, and it automatically is emailed out to the group. Within minutes you'll have an answer.

ASCII-Link averages about 100 posts a day. Many members often sign up their technical staff because of the knowledge available. We've also created a several rooms dedicated to specific vendors.​​

AdvocacyAdvocacy on your behalf is something we take seriously.

We are your advocate in the industry.

When there is an issue with one of our partners, contact us. We'll reach out to the vendor or distributor on your behalf and often get the issue resolved in one email.

"The point really is we do have a voice as a group. We do have strength in numbers. Vendors will learn that our voice on ASCII touches thousands of their partners."​